Meriem Zeghiche, Nour el Houda Merniz, and Alima Bennecer came up with their entrepreneurial debut while at university studying banking, finance, and marketing. It all emanated from the province of Batna, Algeria, where they live. Forty percent of egg and poultry farming in the country happens in the province, where typically big trays are used and made of conventional carton. The non-recyclable material propelled the three entrepreneurs to implement a waste paper and carton recovering process in order to turn the waste into cheaper, stronger and more convenient egg packaging for consumers and small shops.

“Our newly designed egg trays will protect the eggs from the external shock due to light and dampness so that the loss can be reduced. We are proud to say that we will be the first provider of sustainable egg trays in the country,” Zeghiche says. Apart from reducing paper waste through recycling them into egg trays as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this project is expected to cut down on CO2 emissions by two tons per day, that can result from combusting.

The project which is named PackEggs should be able to provide five jobs within the second year of operation. “The paper waste collectors will be the first jobs we will offer. In the next phase, other employees will be recruited to join our sales force in an effort to increase the presence of our product in the whole country through a local distribution network,” Zeghiche adds.

PackEggs has been part of the SwitchMed Green Entrepreneurship Program where the trio learned how to execute a business plan, from evaluating the project’s sustainability and profitability to the launch of their project. “A key component of the training programme was the module dedicated to ecodesign, which helped us take an in-depth look at the entire life cycle of the product to evaluate and improve the environmental performance,” Zeghiche explains. The three entrepreneurs describe the 8-month mentorship period as “the most beneficial asset.”